I am a bit confused with fees.

[twodimensionalme]

Hi all.

As you can imagine I'm new here and as most of you I was (I am) fascinated with bitcoin, its philosophy, the low transactions fee, etc.
I recently opened two wallets (Coinbase and Coincheck, a Japanese company). I was planning to accept Bitcoin for my business (I offer online services in Japan), so I simulated a transaction. You can find it here: https://live.blockcypher.com/btc/tx/7a41bdce92fbd29d5e64e8e38e6e0bf271b246904be97f9f99967b1cb5e77794/

Yesterday I sent about $14.50 (0,00249223 BTC) from Coinbase to Coincheck, I received 0.00059789 BTC ($3,26) and paid 0.00226 BTC ($11,30) for transaction fee. I understand this went to miners, if I'm not wrong.

Did I do something wrong or at the time BTC is simply unusable for business? Is there any way to actually pay a low fee, to be sure you'll actually get $15 if you want $15?

Thanks,
2DMe

[Opquar]

There are certain wallets that let you set your own transaction fees. Electrum is one of the most popular of them. Either way, fees are unfortunately skyrocketing at the moment because the bitcoin network is under attack. Things should be back to normal after a while.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Coinbase fees are one of the worst. You can transfer from Coinbase to GDAX for free, and then from GDAX elsewhere also for free.

[twodimensionalme]

There are certain wallets that let you set your own transaction fees. Electrum is one of the most popular of them. Either way, fees are unfortunately skyrocketing at the moment because the bitcoin network is under attack. Things should be back to normal after a while.

I understand, thanks. It seems I got in in the wrong moment.
Does "normal" means reasonable for a business?
To define reasonable, for me the PayPal fees are ok. I wish I could pay less in fees, but PayPal (about 3%) is just fine.

[twodimensionalme]

Coinbase fees are one of the worst. You can transfer from Coinbase to GDAX for free, and then from GDAX elsewhere also for free.

Thanks, this is interesting. I didn't know.

I have one question, anyway: let's assume a shopkeeper in Tokyo is selling me $20 worth of pizza. How can I be sure he'll get $20 worth of Bitcoin in his wallet?
If it depends on which wallet/system you are using, then it's a bit risky at the moment to keep accepting Bitcoin in the "real" economy.

I understand I can control my own transactions (the money I send to myself) using GDAX, and it's already a good thing, but when two different people are involved then it's too umpredictable. Should the shopkeeper ask "where are you sending money from?".

Sorry for the silly questions. Probably I really got in in the worst moment regarding the fees.

[Kiki Rusma]

There are certain wallets that let you set your own transaction fees. Electrum is one of the most popular of them. Either way, fees are unfortunately skyrocketing at the moment because the bitcoin network is under attack. Things should be back to normal after a while.

may i know how to get the electrum wallet?
how much minimum fee of electrum to send and receive bitcoin?

[faimloup]

There are certain wallets that let you set your own transaction fees. Electrum is one of the most popular of them. Either way, fees are unfortunately skyrocketing at the moment because the bitcoin network is under attack. Things should be back to normal after a while.

may i know how to get the electrum wallet?
how much minimum fee of electrum to send and receive bitcoin?

Electrum is not user friendly. Do an audit of popular open source wallets — some provide the ability to decide your own transaction fee. When the network is busy, the transactions with the highest fee gain priority though ... until BTC code changes to allow lower fees it is best to accept the fee as the cost of being involved in a popular, speculative currency.